What can we do to bring Blender to the masses ?!

General Forums Blender and CG Discussions
#1

I’m looking for what must be done for Blender to get known by all audiences.
Any tiny suggestion you might have is worth the post, even if you have posted in other threads put it in here also.

All sugestions will be updated to this message.

Suggestions:

  • Training DVD.
  • Courses.
  • Certification Program.
  • Innovative Open Source type Certification.
  • The Blender Portfolio (submitted by any of us).
  • Worldwide Conferences.

Best Regards to All.

(Request a Sticky on this issue since it is relevant for the Blender Community in general and will act as a starting point for actions to be taken in order to bring Blender to the masses, thank you)

#2

You like to request stickies don’t you? I think that was on your other post too.

If you search the forums you will see the very same topics have been discussed MANY times in quite some depth already.

(Others, please correct me if I’m wrong) To sum it up: instead of spending your time on marketing, spend your time on honing your skills. If Blender users step up the level of production, the world will take notice.

Regarding your specific suggestions:

Training DVD: Not a bad idea
Courses: On-Line? Not sure what format you are talking about.
Certification Program: You already have a post about that. I’d say no.
Blender Portfolio: Very Important, and already exists.
Worldwide Conferences: Already being done.

#3

Very well, I request the Close of this Thread, it seems that it has no meaning wathsoever, and was bad from me to try and bring this issue again, since I believe people to find me presumptous and not willing to help out.

So you know, I bought the Blender Book as a way to support Blender, I am reading it and trying to get to the level many of you are with Blender, in order to Create some Animations and Stills to submit to the Blender portfolio. I work 8 hours a day and have University 4 hour at night, now that I have “school” vacations I am taking a discreet course at night, from my own savings (3D Studio Max 6.0 and Combustion 3).

One other thing, I am not Marketing, I’m spending my few time trying to understand on the current Blender state and how it has come so far, and what can I do to make it grow faster. This would be good to all of Blender users.

A company I work for, is willing to support me in providing courses for Blender and other Open Source software if I state that we have a market to aim for. I also have several Small / Medium companies that might be interested in this kind of courses. This would mean money to The Blender Foundation and an increase of Blender Popularity, thus a benefit for all Blender users. It would also bring other benefits to the Community, some donations to the users that have committed their work for free to all of us.

But I believe that I have no Credibility whatsoever and that I’m considered has only doing marketing.

Sorry to try and help !

Please Close This Thread.

#4

making commercial things with Blender: this is the best marketing for masses
commercial games, game graphics, animations, movies etc.

#5

OK, before this thread get closed (I vote against that)…

First of all bringing something up that is usefull for the community and for Blender is always a good thing, even if it has been discussed in the past. And judging the results, those past discussions didn’t result in something, or am I missing it ?

As for the popularity of Blender, it is already very popular but mostly with hobyists. And there is the problem tmo because this means that a lot of nice stuff is being done with it but very little professional stuff (as in: very high, production grade quality). To get a tool like Blender accepted in commercial production environments it needs to be demonstrated that it can be used in such environments. When I’m looking around on CGtalk for example I see stuff that blow your socks of, made by pros and hobyists alike, showing what can be achieved with the big packages. When @ndy posts his stuff there many people are impressed with his work and even more that it’s being done with Blender. So we need more high quality stuff made with Blender and we need to expose it on sites like CGtalk. They publish a book (I think anually) with work that’s being posted on their forums and get voted for as ‘frontpage’ material (go over there to see what it means). When Blender material gets to that frontpage and into their prestigious book the recognition for Blender will grow.

Just my view on things :wink:

#6

But for this to happen people must have the knowledge to work with the tool, thus they need training, this means they need someone to provide this training, cause commercial things are done by commercial companies. And thats what I am trying to do in my country, and I wanted to make this courses and certification program go along and be defined by and with all Blender users around the world, in order to make the best of it and allowing it to expand to other countries as well.

But it seems I lack the Credibility and that I am only spending time on marketing and not enough on honing my skills.

Thank you for your post, but has stated previously this Thread seems to doesn’t make sense and so I requested that this Thread should be Closed.

#7

RCAS, don’t get scared :wink:

Starting something like this takes hard work and a lot of ‘convincing people’ to do. The Blender community is largely a community of hobyists that won’t see the validity of your point as we (I’m in the same boat with you) are thinking of putting Blender on the map for PROFESSIONAL use. Anyone who uses Blender for fun will not understand what you want and anyone who wants to get into professional 3D will stay away from Blender for it’s lack of credibility to perform and deliver high quality stuff. Here on Elysiun we ooooh and aaah about the latest additions to Blender (like all the stuff the internal renderer now has, or the upcoming softbody stuff) but the professional world isn’t even aware of Blenders current state.

I say, keep with it. And a suggestion, if you need a dedicated forum for the certification project I can have it up and running in a minute :wink:

#8

Thank you for the support, and yes the dedicated forum would be good, if you please :slight_smile: .

I’m organizing the draft and will send it to you after I have all my ideias on paper. Ton will also receive it.

I look forward to build this with you, Ton and all interested people.

#9

RCAS, I’ve send you a personal message.

#10

RCAS:

I wasn’t trying to shoot down your idea. I was actively involved in the past discussions myself. And it is a topic that is of interest to me.

Nevertheless, if you haven’t read the previous discussions, I would recommend that you do so - not because this thread is unneeded - but so that you have the background and context to know where others are coming from, without them rehashing the same things over again.

I agree with you that education is important in the furtherance of Blender as a tool. Without skilled craftsmen it will not be taken seriously, as it’s latent power will not be demonstrated for public view.

If I were you I would recommend the following: start something. If you see a problem, do something about it. Draw up a plan. Let the community know what you want to do. And then do it. If your idea has merit (which it likely does), others with a similar viewpoint will offer support. Unfortunately a lot of great ideas just get regurgitated in discussion, but not much happens. Personally, I am just too busy right now to offer much help.

Regarding the “sticky” bit, I just thought it a little funny to see a new forum member request that both of his first two threads be made sticky.

Also, I wasn’t questioning your credibility. And now that you have explained your plans, they sound very good. If you are willing to really push for this, I am sure it is possible. But it will require some hard work.

Finally, I wasn’t saying that YOU were involved in marketing. Your topic was about how to get Blender to the masses. Part of that, in the context of one who participated in the previous threads on the subject, invovled marketing. That is what I was talking about. Not you.

#11

Sorry if I “exploded” that way on you, but since I am working hard on this issue on the few spare time I have, I just felt like rejected and that since I was a new user in this Forum I had no credibility whatsoever.

I cannot do this alone and I assume that, but I see that like you said, others share my point of view. And if it depends on me, Blender within two years will get to the masses, and reach the Professional level.

Thanks for your post, and I like very much sincerity, and I’m glad you stated your opinion, but I just got upset since I’m trying my best to keep up to date and see some rather “offensive” (you have clarified your point and now I see it differently) post on the hard work I’m trying to do and I just exploded.

I understand now all your points, and I hope to see some posts from you on this thread, at least to point out the bad side of things, wich is a good way to test something in the first place.

Best Regards.

And I still believe that the issue indeed requires a Sticky (I’m new to this forum, but I have been in lots of forums for some years and I know what kind of threads should be sticky, even if they are for just a couple of days)

#12

tgremlin was kind enough to provide a specific forum in wich I believe that this matter also fits into.

The forum is located here.
To any of you who care to join us in this, and state your opinions, we would be glad to see your presence there.

And also, any more comments would be helpfull, every experience and knowledge that might be shared is another way to speed things up and avoid any error made from / in past experiences.

Best Regards to all.